Any experience of damaged Cruciate in dogs?

[ChestyNut]

ChestyDog started limping on back leg suddenly.
Have been to vets who "suspects" he's torn cruciate ligament

Going back to see if it's improved next week but have to think about surgery vs non surgery ( vet not keen)

Has any one had experience of either.

ChestyDog also has life long medicated condition which I'm worried about + surgery and vet quoted £1500-3000 just for surgery.

Please don't flame me for taking money into account.

He's my baby

Hiya, what size dog is he? Bigger dogs over 15 kg ish normally do much better with surgery, small ones often heal ok without.

That seems an awful lot for a cruciate surgery. Its been a long time since i was a vet nurse but that seems excessive. Saying that i nearly died when i bought some flea stuff the other week.

My dog had this at the start of this year he hurt his leg while running. Surgery was a thousand pounds medication on top of that. Weekly visits to the vet as well had to get a crate for after surgery. The surgery was only partially successful so physio as well which was 40 a session. Insurance paid 400. All together it probably to about 1500.

Our collie/GS cross damaged his cruciate and had the op. He couldn't walk and was obviously in a lot of pain/discomfort though.

This was about 5 years ago and it cost £600.

My mums elderly JRTx Border did his cruciate last year , we didn't go for surgery did crate rest etc and it is fine . I think it does depend on the size of the dog and the lifestyle .

Size of dog is very important to type of treatment recommended. Less than 15kg definitely try rest and anti-inflammatories.
15 to 25kg lateral fabella tie is a very good option and will probably around £800 mark.
Over 25kg there are benefits to the more complex surgeries such as TPLO and TTO these use expensive specialist equipment and implants so £2-3000 is not unreasonable.

My mums terrier cross had it done. Was expensive But she walks fine now with no pain/problems. She couldn't walk before op really. Mum tried rest but it didn't help her really! Well the dog rested. Not my mum

One of 25Kg dog needed cruciate repair by Noel Fitzpatrick last year. My Dog had TTO. The whole bill came to nearly £3000.00 as he needed a second cartilage op a few months later. All paid for by insurance luckily.

If your dog does need surgery do make sure you get referred to a specialist.

My dog is now back to normal and as active as ever.

He's 20kg ( staffie)

Vet said there's two surgerys depending on injury.

He has very good QoL but had epilepsy two on 2 meds which can damage liver.

Does crate rest literally mean locked in his cage all day?
Vet said 8 weeks?!

crate rest is much as it says, alth if you're with him, he can sit quietly with you, is the staying still, no bouncing that's important, alth know that will be very difficult for waggy bouncy staffs! Making sure not overweight helps a lot, staffies are prime to putting on a bit, so make sure yours hasn't. Have had fosters who've done this, smaller have recovered without surgery, larger have needed it, but when advice has been followed and rested well for recovery, they've done well. I feed then arnica homeopathic tablets, some people think it's all a myth, but I've found it does actually aid in faster and better healing. You can start giving it now and also after for both surgical and non surgical options. Worst it can do is cost you a few more quid if you ding believe it helps, but I've always thought that few quid worth it on case it does!

My mum is going through this with our dog at the moment, she is a small terrier. Vet quoted £££ for op but he said he believes it is often the recovery time which sorts the issue rather than the op itself. Our dog is 11 so wanted to avoid op if possible. We have had her on anti inflammatories and bought her a special harness from US. It was about £ 150 but gives her lots of support for walking and she trots along happy as a clam. I can find out name of company if you like.

Mum's Shih Tzu had this done at 12 months old after he fell out of the window sill barking at me pulling on the drive
It was expensive but he healed well and lived without and problems from it until he got to about ten.

At that point he did start to struggle on walks and the vets diagnosed arthritis in the joint. At 12 one of the pin screws started to break through the skin of his leg, they operated in an attempt to remove the pin but by this point the bone had fused and they were unable to take the pin out, preferring to file back the screw and hope it didn't cause more issues. I think that episode was somewhere around the £500 mark.

By the age of 13 he was really struggling. The metacam was no longer doing much for his pain and despite the vets trying different drugs he was clearly in pain and struggling, dragging the joint as he went. Mum took the decision to have him PTS rather than put him through more pain.

One of our labs had it and had the op two years ago. It was about £1,500 as far as I remember. Thank god for insurance.

She still limps sometimes but doesn't seem to be in pain.

It is worth knowing that it is really quite common for the other cruciate to go at a later date. It is believed that a lot of these dogs have a genetic weakness in their cruciate ligaments.

My lab cross ruptured her cruciate five years ago. The vet repaired it (£500) and she made a full recovery, the other cruciate ligament is still fine five years on. Unfortunately she ruptured her Achilles' tendon a couple of years later. Surgery would have cost £1200 with no guarantee of success and would have required six months crate rest and an external frame with screws going into the bone. The treatment seemed worse than the problem so we instead got a custom made orthopaedic leg brace from Orthopets for £630 which she has been wearing for walks for the past three years.

Yes that's one of my worries that the other goes

Haven't done much but cry this weekend

Should I ring other vets for quotes or will they all charge the same?

Chesty if you knew which surgery was involved we would be better able to tell you if the price is reasonable.

She just said two different surgerys and depends on X-ray and exam which one would be appropriate?

From reading I presume it's either the tie one to temporarily replace ligament (£1500) or the one where the shave the bone? Is it TTO or something? (£3500)

If we decided to try the crate rest method should we still have X-rays done? Are they necessary if we decide no surgery?

He seems fine in himself apart from hopping about.

Thankyou all for your posts

It will depend where you are, but the prices are fairly top end. I do lateral fabella ties for about £800 and refer my TTO's to another orthopaedic surgeon who charges about £2200 and we are in the South East.

I'm north east?

Lateral suture £800 and TTA £1800 here (Midlands).

Lonecat has already mentioned the one thing that I was going to advise, and that is ask for referral to an orthopaedic surgeon for TTO, if your veterinary practice doesn't have one.